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Business books are entertainment, not strategic tools

(theorthagonist.substack.com)
593 points ZeroTalent | 2 comments | 09 May 25 20:51 UTC | HN request time: 0.453s | source
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peterlk ◴[09 May 25 23:44 UTC] No.43941972[source]▶
I think there are maybe 5 business books out there. I’m not sure how exactly I’d define the 5 different business books, but I think of you read 10-15 business books you’ve pretty much read them all. After a while, they all start boiling down to the same few points with differences in narrative content. If I were to take an unconsidered stab at a few of them: hard work + luck is about the closest formula anyone has found for success if applied over long time periods; you have to be disagreeable and believe in yourself, but not so disagreeable that you can’t get along with anyone; people are important, and treating them well leads to better businesses (over long time periods); sometimes you get dealt a bad hand.
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1. dentemple ◴[10 May 25 00:50 UTC] No.43942347[source]▶
Don't forget the tried-and-true "Don't sell to your customers; listen for their actual needs" advice that's repeated ad nauseum in a thousand different ways by B2B experts who claim to have "cracked the code" to increasing sales.
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2. turnsout ◴[10 May 25 14:09 UTC] No.43945768[source]▶
It's repeated because so few people actually talk to customers and meaningfully listen to them… But you're right, it has become overused.

An interesting counterpoint to "listen to your customers" is The Innovator's Dilemma, which details how increasing profit and producing a better product for your customers can sometimes make a company vulnerable to disruption.